Folding ladder



UNTTED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

AUGUST BORMANN AND EMIL EKHARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FOLDING LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,114, dated June 16,1885.

(No model.)

T 0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, AUGUST BORMANN and EMIL EKHARD, both of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Folding Ladder, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of folding ladders; and theinvention consists of the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a part of our new and improved folding ladder as it appears when opened out for use. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a part of the ladder folded.

Our new folding ladder is composed of the connected side links, a a, rungs Z) I), and stopblocks 0 0, pl aced at the connections or joints of thelinks a and rungs b,to prevent the links from opening out beyond a straight line. The links a are pivoted to each other by the pins (2 d, and the ends of the rungs b are pivoted to the links by the pins d, and upon the pins (1 are pivoted also the blocks 0. Upon pins d are placed the blocks 0. The blocks 0 c are duplicates of each other, each being formed with two shoulders or offsets, e and e, the latter being longer than the former, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The rungs I) and blocks 0 are pivoted to the ends of every second joint in the links a, and the blocks a are placed with the offsets c c to the outside of the links, so that while they do not interfere with the folding of the links inward toward the center of the ladder, they prevent the links from opening outward beyond a straight line. The blocks a are pivoted to the joints in the links a that come between the rungs I), and are placed with the offsets e 6 against theinner edges of the links, so that they will not interfere with the folding of the links inward, but, like the blocks a, prevent the links from opening outward beyond a straight line, as will be understood from Figs. 1 and 2. In this manner, by folding the joints between the rungs Z), the ladder may be closed like the bellows of an accordion, as shown in Fig. 3, and by simply lifting or moving the rungs Z) away from each other the ladder may be opened for use, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and when so opened out the blocks 0 c act as stops to the joints, to prevent side sway of the ladder and to give rigidity thereto, and they also facilitate the proper folding of the ladder, causing the joints between the rungs to fold inward toward the center of the ladder without extra attention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The folding ladder herein shown and described, which consists of the pivoted side links, a, rungs b, pivoted to every second joint of the links, and the blocks 0 0, applied to the joints and formed with shoulders or offsets, to prevent the links from opening beyond a straight line outward, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

AUGUST BORMANN. EMIL EKHARD.

Witnesses:

A. DANNSTADT, LORENZ DANNSTADT. 

